In this exciting Spotlight interview, James Oates sits down with the highly intelligent team at Grapheel Innovation. The team consists of:
• Daniel Hajas: Blind, theoretical physics student with PhD in Informatics, special research interest on accessible STEM.
• Tim Lingard: Programmer and physicist, PhD student at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (Portsmouth), Head of Information Systems and online services.
• David Turner: Physics student at Sussex, Head of R&D at Grapheel, researching engineering solutions for the Tactile Graphics Display.
The team discusses the enormous problem that exist in providing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education to people who are blind or visually impaired. They explained the three-pronged approach that they have devised to conquer this problem.
Step one is called “Iris,” which is a science community based image description service specifically for STEM graphical content used as teaching material. The student uploads an image, and receives a detailed description from a volunteer who is a professional in that field of study.
The second is a consultancy scheme where they will advise on solutions that are in existence for accessible science. Various assistive software, hardware, teaching resources, good practice in science accessibility and so on.
The third is the development of a Tactile Graphics Display. They wish to carry out hardware research and development and concentrate on materials science for developing cost and performance efficient actuators. They also wish to collaborate with the various initiatives developing their own tactile displays and open their operating system for third party developers. This way Grapheel could develop STEM specific applications for already existing tactile graphics display devices, since there are organizations like the American Printing House for the Blind, doing a great job in the hardware development front.
Visit Grapheel’s website to learn more or get involved in helping in this remarkable effort.
You can also follow Grapheel on Twitter.

About James Oates

James Oates officially joined the Cool Blind Tech podcast team in the summer of 2014. James is an advocate of accessible technology across all platforms, with an emphasis on Windows. As a former K-12 educator, James brings his passion for teaching to the CBT audience in an effort to help listeners realize their potential and explore new avenues of empowerment through technology. Blind since childhood, James currently lives in Florida.
You can follow him on Twitter, @BLIND_MATRIX

The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL both use Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processors with 4GB RAM. (You can also choose between 64GB and 128GB options.) They have the same camera, processor, and speaker specs. They have 12.2-megapixel rear cameras that have an autofocus with laser and dual-pixel phase detection, and optical and electronic image stabilization. In the front, the Pixels have a fixed-focus 8-megapixel camera. Both phones use USB-C, but no wireless charging. There is no headphone jack and it runs on Bluetooth 5.0.

The Pixel 2 XL has a bigger battery and a 6-inch screen with a 2880 x 1440 smart OLED resolution; the Pixel 2 has a 5-inch screen and 1920 x 1080 OLED resolution. This year’s XL is slightly bigger than last year’s 5.5-inch screen. The Pixel 2 is also slightly lighter and slimmer than the XL. The Pixel 2 comes in “kind of blue,” “just black,” and “clearly white.

The regular price for the Pixel 2 64GB is $649, while the Pixel 2 XL 64GB costs $849. The 128GB variant costs $749 and 949. Look out for holiday discounts!

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